BREAKING: Gunman Goes On Rampage In Nightclub, ‘Hostages Taken’

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A number of people are feared dead or injured after a gunman attacked a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. 

Police confirmed that multiple people have been injured in the attack on the LGBT club ‘Pulse’ in the early hours of this morning, and asked people to stay away from the area, The Guardian reports.

Meanwhile unconfirmed reports have suggested that as many as 20 people could have been hurt in the attack, while another claims that at least one gunman has barricaded themselves in the building with hostages.

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Pulse staff posted on the club’s Facebook: “Everyone get out of pulse and keep running”.

A witness said that people were ‘screaming that people were dead’ and that ‘they are just pulling people out in stretchers loading them up’.  He finished by saying: “Please god let everyone make it – tonight was supposed to be a fun night!! One more minute and we would of been shot or worse.”

One witness told SkyNews that there were over 100 people in the club for a Latin night when the gunman attacked the building, opening fire into the ceiling and crowd. He didn’t know if it was a lone gunman or multiple attackers.

Speaking to SkyNews Anthony Torres explained he was outside the club when the gunman started shooting and said he thought that more than one person was involved in the attack, and that the shooting lasted between 15 and 20 minutes.

Another witness, Ricardo Negroni, said:

We just heard shots, it was less than a minute, it felt longer. There was a brief pause and we just ran. Everybody was just faces to the floor. I had someone over me, I really didn’t see [how many gunmen there were]. All I can tell you was the club was packed, there were over 100 people there.

Negroni wrote on his Facebook wall that the gunman attacked at about 2am and that ‘people on the dance floor and bar got down on the floor’ while those near the bar and back exit managed to escape.

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There are now conflicting reports on whether the gunman is holding hostages in the club with some media outlets and witnesses reporting that the attacker or attackers may be keeping people in the club, and that he may have a bomb.

Paramedic Jordan Hubler said:

There was a shooter with an assault rifle who shot up the people in the club sometime around 2am. The club is reported to have been at full capacity. The shooter has himself barricaded inside Pulse with multiple hostages.

More on this as it develops.

Tom Percival

More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.

Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.

He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.